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Mr Buttiglione fell foul of the Euro-deputies following his comments, during his Parliament audition last week, on gays and his traditional views on the role of women in society.

Berlusconi: \"crude propaganda\"

A compromise solution suggesting that the conservative politician be kept in the Commission but be given a different portfolio was rejected by a majority.

Reacting to the vote, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlsuconi accused Italian left MEPs of waging "crude propaganda" and said the vote marked a "dreadful start" to the European Parliament.

The Committee will make its recommendation to reject Mr Buttiglione to the president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday.

However, a final decision has to be taken later this week by the different political groups.

Knock-on effect?

Some MEPs are already wondering if there will be a knock-on effect - making power politics between the different political families come into play.

It is thought that Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs, a socialist who is to be in charge in energy, could be targeted by conservatives.

"I realise this is politics but it would be a shame if, merely because of politics, good people get in trouble in the confirmations simply because of a knock on effect", the Civil Liberties Committee vice-president, Greek Socialist Stavros Lambrinidis, told EUobserver.

The political group leaders are due to meet incoming Commission president José Manuel Durão Barroso next week to put their views to him.

Mr Barroso is not under any legal obligation to change his team and MEPs, when they vote in two weeks time, can only vote to reject the whole Commission en masse and not just one person from the team.

"In theory, on the basis of this recommendation, Mr Barroso can think about the composition of his Commission - nothing more than that", said Mr Lambrinidis.

To make matters a little cloudier still, Mr Buttiglione was accepted by the Legal Affairs Committee - which also gave him a separate hearing last week.

Around 45,000 people marched in support of Catalonia in Brussels to get the EU involved in mediating the conflict with Madrid. 'Europe must realise that it can still play a role in the Catalan crisis,' said self-exiled Catalan leader Puigdemont.

EU summit leaders on Thursday will not reach any deal on migration, while Italy and the Visegrad Group countries confront each other on the Trust Fund for Africa. The debate on internal EU asylum relocation, however, remains off the table.

Ten years after its accession and a year before holding the EU presidency, the fastest-growing EU economy wants to "engage" more with its partners. But concerns over the rule of law continue to give the country a bad image.